


gotta go back in time

by pansexualgabriel (humancorn)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Time Travel, Angel Marking (Supernatural), Angst, Angst and Feels, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Episode: s02e15 Tall Tales, Established Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Past, Past Character Death, Time Travel, Trickster Gabriel (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-06-25 02:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19736581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humancorn/pseuds/pansexualgabriel
Summary: A witch sends Sam back in time & he meets someone he thought he'd never see again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SPN Gabriel Bingo - Square filled: Time Travel

Sam groaned as he picked himself up from the floor, his wrist stinging as he put pressure on it - probably a strain, hopefully not a break. He blinked, realized that he was no longer in a warehouse, and the witch that had been less than three feet from him was gone as well. There was speckled linoleum beneath his fingers and as Sam took a look around, he noticed he was in a hallway that looked oddly familiar. He remembered this - the tan brick walls, the old wooden display cases, the stairway at the end of the corridor, and as he turned, he heard the telltale sound of a spring-lock door opening behind him.

And then? A fond click of a tongue and an all-too-familiar voice called out to him, “Did you get lost there, detective?” Sam’s heart was in his throat in an instant.

"Gabe?" Sam whispered, turning and moving toward him faster than he probably should have, with his head still spinning from being knocked around by that witch. But it’s  _ Gabriel _ , here, now, right in front of him, and Sam couldn’t help but reach out for him as he stumbled closer. Gabriel took a step back, his eyes wide and his trademark grin quickly transformed into a frightened scowl. He was wearing a navy jumpsuit, his hair shorter than the last time Sam had seen him, but that didn’t matter now. 

"What?" Gabriel breathed, taking another step back, but Sam had him, his fingers closing around his wrist. Sam pulled him close, his face buried in Gabriel's hair the instant they made contact. And it only occurred to him moments later, how strange the situation was. How he'd been in a warehouse minutes before, and yet now he stood in a university corridor, his dead lover cradled in his arms. And he remembered, then, why this place looked so familiar. He looked down, his heart still pounding in his throat, expecting to see a demon, a ghost, or some eldritch monstrosity in place of where Gabriel had just been. Instead, Gabriel threw him, quite literally, into a wall, and all Sam heard before he blacked out was the sound of snapping fingers. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for Gabriel SPN Bingo - Square filled: Argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go y'all

Sam woke slowly, his eyes blinking open and trying to take in his surroundings. He tried to lift his arms and found that he wasn’t able, noticed he was tied to a chair and said chair was sitting in the middle of a devil’s trap surrounded by a ring of burning holy oil. The room he was in was dim, but he could still make out a few distinct things: the floor was a dark hardwood and the walls were stained log - he was in a cabin. He glanced around, trying to get his eyes to focus to the dark, and noticed an ornate rug just to the left of him that was starkly familiar - it had been in the cabin Gabriel had brought him to after Dean died, back when he still thought Gabriel was Loki. It could just be a coincidence, of course it could, because Gabriel was dead. He’d died in the Elysian Fields hotel over three years ago and Sam knew that. Sam knew he was dead. He’d seen the burned ash wings spreading out from his lifeless vessel. Gabriel was dead.

And yet, as he strained his eyes in the darkness, he saw a figure leaning in the doorway, a figure with golden-shining eyes. Sam cleared his throat and tried to make a mental map of everything he could possibly use as a weapon against this...being...that looked exactly like his dead archangel boyfriend. No angel blade, no demon-killing knife, no gun. He tried to wriggle out of the restraints on his wrists, but they wouldn’t budge. 

“You won’t be able to break those, don’t waste your energy.” The figure in the doorway said, and Sam winced - it sounded so  _ much  _ like Gabriel it hurt. He moved toward Sam, stepping into the light just outside of the ring of holy fire, “Who are you?” 

Sam smiled weakly and paused, looking him over. The navy jumpsuit had been replaced with a simple red button-down underneath a tan jacket and a pair of dark-wash jeans. His eyes were still honey-gold, glowing bright and angry in the dim light. Sam hadn’t seen him like this since, well, since the night he’d died. 

“I’m Sam Winchester.” Sam said, and the man let out a bitter laugh. 

“No, you’re not.” He pointed a blade at him, “Sam Winchester is asleep in his motel room. So, I’m gonna ask again, who are you?” 

“Sam Winchester.” Sam repeated, brows furrowing.  _ Sam Winchester is asleep in his motel room. Familiar college hallway, a Gabriel look-a-like. What looked like an archangel blade in the Gabriel-look-a-like’s hand.  _ The man scoffed and twirled the blade between his fingers, walking slowly around the ring of holy fire. Sam could hear his boots thunking across the hardwood floor as he came to stand directly behind him. There was a long pause and Sam could hear his blood ringing in his ears as he tried to fit together a plan. The ring of holy fire dissipated and Sam heard him step closer, and suddenly there was cool metal pressing up against his neck, a hand in his hair forcing his head back to look into those fire-golden eyes. 

“How do you know my name?” Not-Gabriel’s breath ghosted over his face and it smelled like caramel coffee. He placed two fingers on Sam’s neck, gliding soft to the pressure point just below his jaw. A moment passed where he just looked into Sam’s eyes before thar all-too-familiar feeling of grace rushed through Sam’s body, warming him, surging through his nerves like live electricity. Sam closed his eyes, leaning slightly into the touch, and he knew in that moment that this was Gabriel. He’d know that feeling anywhere. Regardless of what Dean always said, every angel Sam had encountered had a different feeling to their grace. Castiel’s was colder, like ice running through his veins, Gadreel’s had been heavy, suffocating, and lukewarm, Lucifer’s -- Sam didn’t want to think about -- fire coursing under his skin, burning down his throat and scorching his insides. And Gabriel’s was warm. It was warm and it felt right, like he was safe and loved every moment it flowed through him. 

Gabriel’s fingers slowly withdrew and Sam looked up at him - at the hard line of his mouth, the angry furrow of his brow. Sam smiled, slow and sad, and Gabriel snapped his fingers once more. 


	3. lightning never strikes me twice

When he woke again, he was still tied to the chair, but the devil’s trap surrounding the chair had been broken. Gabriel was sitting in the corner, archangel blade sitting on the coffee table next to him. There was a long moment where no one moved and Gabriel just stared at him. Sam met his eyes and he looked away. The ropes binding him to the chair fell away. Sam flexed his wrists, rubbing at the skin, he’d probably been tied up for close to a day now and his arms were sore. 

“I’m supposed to be giving a college bully his just desserts right now, Winchester.” Gabriel said, a crooked smile on his lips, but his eyes were blank, far-away, “But here we are.” 

Sam sighed, a wry smile on his lips because he remembered that one - the slow-dancing alien bit had made him laugh when they’d first heard about it. 

“Yeah, well sorry to interrupt your  _ very important  _ task of scarring a football player for life _. _ ” He glanced around the room now that it was better lit, taking in the old oak desk in the corner lined up with trinkets, the mantle overhanging the fireplace on the wall to the right of him, and the ornate chest sitting next to the doorway. It had been a long time since Sam had been here and everything looked exactly the same as the last time he’d set foot in Gabriel’s cabin, right before they’d headed off to try and kill Lucifer the first time.

“How long has it been, exactly?” Gabriel questioned, his voice soft. Sam looked at him for a moment and Gabriel rolled his eyes, “How long has it been for you? Since you’ve been here?” And Sam almost laughed, because of course Gabriel was reading his mind, probably had been from the start. But he was a stubborn bastard and he didn’t want to admit to what he suspected was going on, which Sam didn’t blame him for, it wasn’t like he was accidentally transported to the past every day. 

“A very long time. 7 years, I think. We didn’t exactly have a lot of downtime around the time you--” Sam stopped and huffed out a laugh to keep his voice from catching in his throat. It was dumb - the fact that he was still getting choked up over this. It wasn’t like this was a fresh wound - not even close. It had been nearly a decade and he was still lost over Gabriel’s death. 

“So I died. You sure? Future-Me might just be hangin’ out somewhere.” Gabriel gave him a reassuring grin and stood, walking over to where Sam was sitting. Absently, Sam’s hand moved over his right forearm, thumb stroking slowly at the fabric of his jacket. Gabriel,  _ Sam’s Gabriel  _ couldn’t be alive. He couldn’t be hanging out in some backwater town punishing arrogant humans, couldn’t be off enjoying some long-forgotten beach in South America, couldn’t be waiting for him when ( _ if)  _ Sam got back to the future. But this Gabriel probably already knew that.

“Isn’t knowing this much about your own future like, a bad thing? Won’t it cause some sort of time...paradox?” Sam said, not even trying to fight Gabriel as he took his hand. Sam’s jacket was gone not a second later, and Gabriel’s eyes were focused on the hand-shaped imprint on Sam’s forearm. He was so close to touching it that Sam could feel his skin tingling, just a little bit, and he was sure Gabriel could feel it too. Silence settled over them as Gabriel stared at the mark, the thrum of his grace in his fingertips, aching to touch it. He traced around it, careful not to touch the raised skin, before slowly, carefully, fitting his hand over it. It matched up perfectly, and Sam could feel warmth coursing through his nerves once more. Gabriel frowned, letting go of Sam’s arm. 

“A time paradox? What do you think this is, some sort of Doctor Who special?” Gabriel scoffed, walking over to the corner as a couch appeared from thin air just in time for him to flop down on it. He sighed and ran his hand down his face, “So who ended up  **icing** me? Was it your brother? Please tell me it wasn’t Dean. I’d  _ die _ of embarrassment right  _ now _ if it was Dean.” 

“It wasn’t Dean.”

Gabriel rolled over onto his stomach and propped his head up on his arms, “Oh thank Dad!” 

Sam smiled, and looked forlornly out the window of the cabin. He couldn’t see much past the tree line, but he could see the tiny dirt path winding into the forest that he knew led to a pond surrounded by dark oak trees, “Can we take a walk?” Sam asked, and Gabriel apparently wasn’t expecting that, because he didn’t seem to have a reply ready, “Just to the pond. I’d like to see it again.” 

“Sure, Samsquatch.” Gabriel teased and Sam had to swallow down the ache in his throat as he heard that nickname again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Wasn't intending on this being so long but here we go yall!


End file.
